Bleaching fabrics.



or itAuLcS or funds,

llnirrnn firnrns Arnrrr CHARLES E. CROSS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, AND GEORGE A. PARKES, OF

MUOKMORE, IRELAND.

.BLEACHING FABRICS.

SPEGXFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,759, dated May 21, 190 1. Application filed February 19, 1900. Serial No. 5.825. (No specimens.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES FREDERICK CROSS, residing at 4 New Court, Carey street, London, England, and GEORGE ALFRED PARKEs, residing at Muckmore, county of Antrim, Ireland, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bleaching Vegetable Textile Fabrics, (for which we have made application for a patent in Great Brit-' ain, No. 25,076, dated December 18, 1899,) of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the bleaching of vegetable textile materials,chiefly those made of cotton and flax, and to those steps of the entire bleaching process in which the materials are treated with alkaline reagents at more or less elevated temperature.

The immediate object'of the present invention is to provide means for safely carrying out a drastic alkaline treatment under the condition of reducing to a minimum the proportion of alkaline lye to the material treated.

It is well known that in ordinary boiling in vomiting-keirs the proportion of liquor to goods is from seven to ten to one. In keirs with forced circulation it has been possible to reduce this to about one-half the above proportion. In our improved method the proportion is so far reduced that the process becomes one of steaming (in contact with the active solution) rather than boiling, and the circulation of the solution is consequently dispensed with. At the same time we. associate with the more active alkali, slich as caustic soda, other reagents having specific effects (a) upon the physical properties of the active solution and (19) upon the constituents of the fibers which it is required to/attack and remove. Thus for treating linen webs we prepare an aqueous solution of on to two per cent. caustic soda, to which we dd silicate of soda to increase its viscosit and a mineral or other suitable oil emulsifi 'd with a soda or potash-soap solution. Theilroportion of the ingredients of the mixture may be varied. We find the following a mixture suitable for linen-webs: 1.75 pounds soap, 14.0 pounds silicate, 1.5 pounds caustic soda, (NaO 11,) 1.75 pounds oil, and ten gallons wainch for one to two hours.

ter. For treating flax goods of open texture.

such as cambrics or damasks, we increase'tho 7 Water to fifteen gallons, retaining theabove This r are run through it at their full width, and

after passing through the squeezing-rollers are run into a roll or batch. Cotton piece goods are similarly treated. On the outsideof the roll a few folds of fabric, which may be remnants or fents also saturated with the solution, should be wound to form a protective covering and prevent unequal action on the fabric. In the roll or batch they are exposed to the action of dry steam at pres sure not exceeding four pounds per square By this treat ment the non cellulose constituents are powerfully attacked. The goods are after ward subjected to an ordinary open boil to clear away the constituents thus attacked.

This boiling may be effected in apparatus of the kind described in the specification Serial No. 728,783, in which case the steaming may be edected in the same apparatus before the boiling.

goods. In other cases it is necessary to prepare them bya preliminary lime-boil or other scouring process.

By the treatment above set forth the linenwebs are brought at once to the condition.

suitable for the dipping and first course of bleaching operations. Cotton fabrics are so far advanced that they may be completely bleached by the ordinary treatment with bleaching-powder solution, scouring, and

washing.

The mechanical arrangements for treating yarns require to be modified.

distributing the solution, and then laid up to drain and freed from excess of solution by This operation maybe carried out in many cases upon the brown or gray Warps or i chains may be saturated with the active so- 2 lution in continuous length, as in the case of j fabric; but for impregnating yarns in the hank it is convenient to operate, as in a dyeing process, by beingimmersedin the solution and giving the usual manipulation forevenly F.

squeezing-rollers or centrifugal action. The yarns may then be placed in a cage to be steamed, this cage being preferably lined with remnants or fents (which had been also impregnated with the alkaline solution) to protect the outside portions of the yarn.

For goods of comparatively slight make,v

Whether fabric or yarn, the proportions of the chemical agents in the active solution are reduced, especially the caustic soda, the proportion of which may be from a 0.5 to a 1.5 per cent. solution; and the same applies in producing limited bleaching effects, such as half-bleaches and scoured shades. The two essentials of our treatment are, first, steaming in the rolled batch, the cloth being at full width, and, second, applying to the cloth or;

goods a mixture of reactive chemicals, as

specified, designed to attack in a specific.

treatment, to remove.

Thus what we ef clearing-boil-is fully bottomed or prepared for full white with one treatment with weak chemick or bleaching-powder, and we get the madder-bleach in printers cloth and a full white or Egyptian cotton by means of the single alkaline treatment, and

o (b) linen goods can be' taken in many cases n the gray, in some cases for a lime-boil, and n the one single alkaline treatment are fully oottomed and prepared for the dipping or bleaching treatment as usually understood.

Thus in the North-of-Ireland linen-bleach 41 we replace four successive lye-boils, with attendant mill-washes and incidental grassing, by the one exhaustive operation under the conditions specified.

We are aware that textile fabrics-t'. 6., 4-

woven goodshave been saturated with alkaline solutions and steamed; but the fabrics have not been so treated at the width nor have solutions been employed having the particular physical character herein specified,

and consequently there has been great unevenness in the treatment, accompanied by tendering, due to local concentration of the active solution and excessive chemical action.

We therefore make no general claim for a 5;

process of steaming with alkaline solutions; but,

Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and the best means we know ofcarrying the same 6i into practical effect, we claim- The herein-described method ofbleaching vegetable fabrics, which consists in saturating them at the full width with a mixture of soap, silicate, caustic soda, oil and water, 6

and then exposing them thus saturated to the action of steam.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES F. CROSS. GEORGE A. PARKES.

Witnesses:

D. LAWSON, P. SIMONTON. 

